This research explores the characteristics of green influencer messages on follower engagement by examining the interplay between message framing (gain vs. loss), construal level (high vs. low), and post timing (weekdays vs. weekends). Green influencers (also: greenfluencers or sustainable influencers) are considered a key agent for a change to more sustainable consumption. A pilot field study of 1000 green influencers, however, indicates that the current communication practices of green influencers (which strongly focus on gain frames, low construal, and posts during the week) are not ideal for maximizing engagement and sustainable behavioral intentions. Two experiments replicate this finding and establish the process through which green influencer posts affect engagement: gain frames increase fluency, which increases engagement; low construal levels decrease psychological distance, which increases engagement. Timing moderates these processes in that weekend posts increase the engagement with gain frames and week posts increase the engagement with low-construal frames. These findings highlight that there is no silver bullet in green influencer messages, but that green influencers need to adapt the framing and construal of their messages to the posts' timing to increase their contribution to more sustainable lifestyles and the greater good.

Purpose When CEOs are publicly weighing in on sociopolitical debates, this is known as CEO activism. The steadily growing number of such statements made in recent years has been subject to a flourishing academic debate. This field offers first profound findings from observational studies. However, the discussion of CEO activism lacks a thorough theoretical grounding, such as a shared concept accounting for the heterogeneity of sociopolitical incidents. Thus, the aim of this paper is to provide an archetypal framework for CEO activism. Design/methodology/approach The authors used a multiple case study approach on 145 activism cases stated by CEOs and found seven distinct statement archetypes. Findings The study identifies four main structural design elements accounting for the heterogeneity of activism, i.e. the addressed meta-category of the statement, the targeted outcome, the used tonality and the orientation of the CEOs’ positions. Further, the authors found seven distinguishable archetypes of CEO activism statements: “Climate Alerts”, “Economy Visions”, “Political Comments”, “Self-reflections and Social Concerns”, “Tech Designs”, “Unclouded Evaluations” and “Descriptive Explanations”. Research limitations/implications This typology classifies the heterogeneity of CEO activism. It will enable the analysis of interrelationships, mechanisms and motivations on a differentiated level and raise the comprehensibility of research-results. Practical implications The framework supports executives in understanding the heterogeneity of CEO activism and to analyse personality-fits. Originality/value To the authors’ knowledge, this marks the first conceptualisation of activism developed cross-thematically. The work supports further theory-building on CEO activism.

When organizations leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to automate processes previously performed by people, it frequently causes uncertainty and fear among those affected. An often suggested way for organizations to navigate such challenges is to seek guidance from AI ethics principles. Leaders, however, find it difficult to make practical use of these abstract, high-level principles. Based on a case study of the large-scale implementation of robotic process automation at an energy service provider in Germany, we provide recommendations for translating AI ethics principles into practice.

Climate-related issues have become increasingly relevant, as reflected in current political and academic discourse. This development is also reflected in investors' capital allocation decisions and their demand for climate-related information. Considering the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), we first investigate the climate-related disclosure quality of listed German firms. We use self-constructed scoring models based on the TCFD recommendations to measure disclosure quality. Second, we use regression analysis to investigate whether corporate governance can explain climate-related disclosure quality. The results indicate that disclosure quality is heavily dispersed across firms, with risk disclosure being better than disclosure of opportunities. Corporate governance factors exert distinct but mostly weak influence on climate-related disclosure quality and that institutional ownership promotes climate-related disclosure quality. We show several implications for research and practice and highlight the relevance for firms to implement a comprehensive approach to communicating climate-related issues.

Purpose In public management research, the focus in the public value debate has been on public administration organizations’ broader societal outcomes. Public value describes how public administrations form a vital part of the social context in which people develop and grow. However, there has not yet been an analysis of how public administration contributes to happiness in society. Design/methodology/approach In this study, we empirically analyze the relationship between people’s happiness and the public value of public administration. Our approach is based on a unique Swiss survey dataset comprising 870 individuals. Findings We find a positive relationship between public administration’s public value and happiness. We also find preliminary evidence with a moderation analysis that the relationship between a value-creating public administration sector and self-reported happiness is stronger for public administration employees. Research limitations/implications While correlation studies cannot claim causal explanations and common method bias may additionally limit any research in social science, we took a number of measures to mitigate related problem. We tested our model in two samples and took both several procedural techniques and a survey design minimizing common method bias. Practical implications The paper discusses implications for public sector performance measurement for public management and practitioners. Social implications This study calls for a more positive view on the multiple functions public administration performs for society. After an era of critical voices, our study helps reclaim public administration as a positive force for society at large in times of grand challenges, such as climate crisis, demographics and digitization. Originality/value This study has highlighted the importance between public administration’s public value and happiness in Swiss public service organizations. The study also showed that an employment in the public administration contributes to the happiness of individuals and beyond to society.